I am sure you could

　　"Never fear," said the Elephant, "I could pull twenty cows."

　　"I am sure you could," said the Rabbit, politely, "only be sure to begin gently, and pull harder and harder till you get her."

　　Then he tied the end of the rope tightly round the Elephant's trunk, and ran away into the bushes.  There he sat down and beat the big drum.

　　The Whale began to pull, and the Elephant began to pull, and in a jiffy the rope tightened till it was stretched as hard as could be.

　　"This is a remarkably heavy cow," said the Elephant; "but I'll fetch her!"  And he braced his forefeet in the earth, and gave a tremendous pull.

　　"Dear me!" said the Whale.  "That cow must be stuck mighty tight;" and he drove his tail deep in the water, and gave a marvelous pull.

　　He pulled harder; the Elephant pulled harder.  Pretty soon the Whale found himself sliding toward the land.  The reason was, of course, that the Elephant had something solid to brace against, and, too, as fast as he pulled the rope in a little, he took a turn with it round his trunk!

　　But when the Whale found himself sliding toward the land he was so provoked with the cow that he dove head first, down to the bottom of the sea.  That was a pull!  The Elephant was jerked off his feet, and came slipping and sliding to the beach, and into the surf.  He was terribly angry.  He braced himself with all his might, and pulled his best.  At the jerk, up came the Whale out of the water.

　　"Who is pulling me?" spouted the Whale.

　　"Who is pulling me?" trumpeted the Elephant.

　　And then each saw the rope in the other's hold.

　　"I'll teach you to play cow!" roared the Elephant.

　　"I'll show you how to fool me!" fumed the Whale.  And they began to pull again. But this time the rope broke, the Whale turned a somersault, and the Elephant fell over backwards.